It’s that time of the year again when residents and citizens of the Netherlands submit their tax returns online via Belastingdienst, hoping to get a refund. Most people, however, put off doing this until the last minute, as it’s not always that straight forward. This is especially true for non-residents and people with a temporary residence in the Netherlands, as they are required to complete the C-form (C-biljet) and the M-form (M-biljet), also known as the migration form.
While the C-form can be submitted personally via the official application interface of the Belastingdienst, there is no such option to submit the M-form online. Moreover, the form is practically a novel with 43(!) pages and it’s only available in Dutch! However, there are some options that make submitting your M-form a lot easier.
Did you know that on average, 60.000 paper M-forms are sent in the Netherlands every year? Yes - this is not a joke! It’s a huge job for the Belastingdienst’s tax administration to deal with, as well as the taxpayer's time, filling out the thick book that is the M-form.
However, while it’s not possible to submit the M-form online via the Belastingdienst app directly, there are ways to submit the M-form online. You just need a little bit of help. When it comes to the year 2020, there are only two options for submitting the M-form online: through a tax advisor with a PKI certificate or through a commercial mobile app.
A tax advisor with a PKI certificate can help you prepare and file your M-form on your behalf, making sure that you declare everything correctly and that you don’t make any costly mistakes.
You can also choose to use a mobile app to help you with the M-form. In this case, you just need to answer a few questions, enter your Jaaropgave data and pay for the service. Your tax return will then be checked by a certified advisor and sent to the Belastingdienst.
The deadline for the submission of a non-resident tax return for 2020 is July 1, 2021. You must submit an analogue or electronic version of your statement within this time limit. Remember that if you do not submit your tax return on time, you may face unpleasant consequences, such as a penalty for failure to submit a tax return or a late tax return.
Such a penalty (verzuimboete) starts at 350 euros, so it's better not to ignore this obligation.